Teen Studies Alternative To War

If Macedonia Is Drawn Into The Fighting In Bosnia, Exchange Student Dejan Leskaroski Will Be Drafted To Fight.

May 31, 1993|By Debbie Salamone of The Sentinel Staff

SANFORD — Going to college could mean the difference between life and death for an Oviedo High School senior.

Dejan Leskaroski, an exchange student from Macedonia, is supposed to return home in July. But if the former Yugoslav republic is drawn into the fighting in Bosnia, he will be drafted to fight.

His Oviedo teachers are trying to extend his stay in the United States by helping the honors student get into college. They believe it could save his life.

''Once you meet someone, it is really hard to let them go back and have something happen to them,'' said teacher Alicia Pope, who began helping Dejan after she met him through one of her students. ''He really values education, and a lot of students don't. They see it as a job, whereas he sees it as a real chance.''

Dejan, 17, wants to study computers and doesn't think he will get a quality education in Macedonia. He said American schools have better equipment and more advanced technology.

Eventually, he wants to take his knowledge home.

''I want to go back and make a difference,'' he said. ''But I know it's only one person.''

Dejan's teachers have consulted an attorney and are helping him apply to Edison Community College in southwest Florida. One teacher's father, a retired Louisiana State University psychology professor, has volunteered to let Dejan live at his Punta Gorda home and to pay for his tuition and expenses.

''I feel like I have to. It's just something that is necessary,'' said O. Hubert Campbell, who has helped other foreign students stay out of conflicts in their homelands. ''Maybe it started with Vietnam. I saw the students going. I hated that war.''

Dejan is grateful for the help. A National Honor Society member, Dejan is in the top 5 percent of his class. He arrived at Oviedo High in August and has stayed with a host family. He reads newspapers and watches television for news of the war.

''My father doesn't want to talk about it. I ask what is happening, and he says nothing,'' Dejan said. ''It is fighting for nothing. I would go in the army, but for nothing. Nobody wants to go. I always call my dad. He says, 'Pray to God you stay there.' ''

Dejan's father, a structural engineer, and his mother, an accountant, have no money. Dejan said his parents lost all of their savings when their bank failed. He worries for his family's safety and the future of his 15-year-old sister. Their two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment is about 200 miles from war-torn Sarajevo.

''If we help him, it may help the country,'' Pope said. ''He may take something back. That is what teaching is all about.''